Shell – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
96.1 FM | 780 AM | Yours for Western AlaskaThu, 08 Dec 2016 03:00:08 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7http://www.knom.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-KNOM-K-Logo-512px-square-32x32.jpgShell – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
323259285469Sitnasuak Announces Strong 2015 Dividend, But Forecasts Profits May Be ‘Slightly Down’ in 2016http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/12/10/sitnasuak-announces-strong-2015-dividend-but-forecasts-profits-may-be-slightly-down-in-2016/
Thu, 10 Dec 2015 23:45:13 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=19961Sitnasuak announced its dividend last month: $6.20 a share for nearly 3,000 shareholders and an extra $500 for each elder with a stake in the business.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/12/2015-12-10-Sitnasuak%20Dividend.mp3

Sitnasuak Native Corporation announced its annual dividend late last month: $6.20 a share for nearly 3,000 shareholders and an extra $500 for each of the 450 elders with a stake in the business. CEO Richard Strutz said the total payout comes to about $1.5 million.

“We’ve had a great year — up considerably more than 2014,” said Strutz. “Most business units are doing above planned.”

That includes one of Sitnasuak’s most profitable operations — a fabric manufacturer in Puerto Rico, which Strutz said has shielded the corporation from Alaska’s struggling economy. Bonanza Fuel has also rebounded after a tough 2014, while the corporation’s title companies and real estate investments have held strong.

“We developed one property which is a charter school in Anchorage called Rilke Schule, which is a school within the Anchorage School district but we actually built the building and now we lease it back,” he said. “We completed that last year, and it’s about a $12 million school.”

But with Alaska’s real estate market softening, Strutz said Sitnasuak may see less revenue from those operations in the next fiscal year. He also said the corporation’s 7(j) money — which comes from natural resource revenues distributed by larger regional corporations — may be “adversely affected” in 2016.

While Sitnasuak is forecasting next year’s profits to be “slightly down” from this year’s strong showing, Strutz said the corporation still expects to do well enough to continue providing the extra dividend for elders — a bonus that was announced for just the fourth time this year.

“The corporation hit on this idea which is helping elders and giving them a little bit of extra benefit,” he said. “It’s not a lot — $500 isn’t going to make or break them — but it’s a nice gesture to show how much we really do care about them.”

And Sitnasuak is looking to do more.

“The corporation is doing well, and it wants to do more in Nome to benefit people in the Nome community, which is our base,” Strutz said.

The corporation had hoped to play a role in the proposed expansion of Nome’s port, which has a projected price tag of $210 million. But in October, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it was putting the project on hold for 12 months in light of the challenging economy and the decision by Royal Dutch Shell to indefinitely suspend its plans to drill for Arctic oil.

Still, Strutz said the proposed port expansion is “a place where we wanted to be a real big presence.”

“Nome is probably still the right place for a port to help with Arctic development,” he said. “It may not be oil, but I think it’s going to continue to open up more and more. And I think Nome is going to be front and center in that development.”

Strutz said Sitnasuak will look to get involved if that development goes forward. In the meantime, he said 2015 dividend checks were mailed last week, so shareholders can expect them soon, if they haven’t arrived already.

]]>19961Amidst Alaska’s Economic Woes, Nome Focuses on Port’s Futurehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/11/27/amidst-alaskas-economic-woes-nome-focuses-on-ports-future/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/11/27/amidst-alaskas-economic-woes-nome-focuses-on-ports-future/#commentsFri, 27 Nov 2015 19:45:23 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=19800Nome's Port Commission and City Council are focused on the future of the port, despite the state's economic challenges.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/11/2015-11-27%20Nome%20Eyes%20Future%20PKG.mp3

Alaska’s harsh environment is often used to explain its resilient population. But more recently it’s been the economy that’s tested the toughness of its people. Royal Dutch Shell pulled out of its multi-year and multi-billion dollar plan to drill in the Chukchi, taking with it business from the Norwegian oil company Statoil, and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers put its plan for a deep draft Arctic port on hold.

Alaska’s economic woes are affecting all corners of the state, especially communities that were banking on an Arctic boom. But, in Nome, go to any one of the city’s meetings and it’s all eyes on the future.

Nome’s Port Commission has been working with the McDowell Group, a research and consulting firm based in Anchorage. They’ve partnered together to update the port’s strategic plan. While the winter weather prevented two of the firm’s consultants from attending the meeting in person, the commissioners wasted no time before diving into the details.

Commissioner Charlie Lean, while seemingly un-phased by the Army Corps’ postponement of its Arctic port study, emphasized that Nome must be viewed as a national port rather than a regional port.

“This is for the extended Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea region,” Lean explained, “and whenever we say ‘regional’ everybody thinks Norton Sound, but we need to have a different word and think about a broader scheme.”

He wasn’t the only one at the table who still thought Nome can play a role in the future of Arctic shipping.

Commissioner Megan Alvanna-Stimpfle, who just recently moved back to Nome after working for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, was adamant about involving Alaska’s delegation in their efforts.

“Our state and our leaders need to get behind this port and the opportunity to support the port of Nome is now, or else it may not happen.”

And, according to City Manager Tom Moran, that might be easier than it sounds. Moran just returned from a trip to Juneau, where he attended the Alaska Municipal League conference alongside Nome’s newly appointed Mayor Richard Beneville. At this month’s city council meeting, which coincided with another burst of bad weather, Moran recapped Governor Walker’s speech at the conference.

“It was a half hour speech and he mentioned three places: Anchorage, Juneau and Nome, and he mentioned Nome four times.” So, Moran pointed out, “it’s worth noting that we do have a friend in the Governor’s office and that is the governor himself,” adding that, “he does certainly have a place in his heart for Nome.”

With the governor’s budget to be released soon, Moran urged the City Council to “keep your fingers crossed, we might see some love from the Governor.”

While schools and businesses were shut down due to the weather, Nome’s City Council plotted a way forward. It was Beneville’s second council meeting since being sworn in as Mayor, and he, too, was keeping an eye on the port’s future.

“One of the things that I would really like to see us continue to do as we move forward with the port, however it turns out to be,” Beneville said, ” is to make Nome as marine-friendly as we can.”

With the sea ice packing into the port and surrounding the city, the docks may no longer be bustling with activity, but Nome’s commissioners and councilmembers are sure to remain hard at work through the winter months.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/11/27/amidst-alaskas-economic-woes-nome-focuses-on-ports-future/feed/319800Nome’s New Mayor Expresses Support for Port Expansion, Emphasizes Tourismhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/10/14/nomes-new-mayor-expresses-support-for-port-expansion-emphasizes-tourism/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/10/14/nomes-new-mayor-expresses-support-for-port-expansion-emphasizes-tourism/#commentsWed, 14 Oct 2015 17:42:09 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=18964Upon being sworn in as Nome's new Mayor, Richard Beneville explained his priorities, which include port expansion and tourism.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/10/2015-10-14-swearing-in.mp3

Richard Beneville was all smiles at his official swearing in on Friday. Sporting a crew-neck sweatshirt that read “Nome, Alaska” across the front, Beneville held his right hand up in the air and swore to support the constitution of the United States, the laws of the state of Alaska, and the ordinances of the city of Nome.

When asked about his priorities for Nome, Beneville mentioned the port first and foremost, saying that he supports the plans for expansion. But he was also realistic about the need to diversify the city’s economy.

“With Shell pulling out and some other things happening, we all have to drop back a little bit and take another look,” Beneville suggested, adding, “it’s a lot of money, but I think it’s money that we can ultimately find.”

The direction Beneville thinks the city should go in is towards more tourism, and not just because of his role in the industry over the years. While Beneville was born in New Jersey, has lived abroad, and spent a large part of his career in New York City, there’s never any question of where he calls home and just how proud he is to do so.

“You know, we’re a wonderful town with a phenomenal history,” Beneville said, adding that, along with having great name recognition in Alaska, Nome is known around the world for its beauty and culture.

It’s that phenomenal history that Beneville thinks Nome should focus on in its attempt to diversify the economy. He suggests one of the first steps would be to host the Alaska Travel Industry Association, which brings together businesses, organizations and individuals throughout the state at its annual convention.

Beneville says that if Nome could host the ATIA convention, “they’d go crazy,” adding that, “they all have been wanting to come for fifteen to twenty years.”

This year, the ATIA met in Juneau over four days, and next year’s convention is being held in Anchorage.

In the meantime, Beneville says that much of the city’s history, from serving as the finish line for the Last Great Race to its role in the first successful transit of the Northwest Passage by a Norwegian explorer, are on display on Front Street.

“Right outside this window is the Iditarod arch, right outside this window is Roald Amundsen. There’s a tremendous amount here on Front Street.”

Beneville will attend his first City Council meeting, a platform for proposing new directions for the city, in less than two weeks, on Monday, October 26.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/10/14/nomes-new-mayor-expresses-support-for-port-expansion-emphasizes-tourism/feed/118964Shell Abandons Arctic Oil Explorationhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/09/28/shell-abandons-arctic-oil-exploration/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/09/28/shell-abandons-arctic-oil-exploration/#commentsMon, 28 Sep 2015 16:25:07 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=18668A "disappointing" well in the company's Burger J prospect in the Chukchi Sea has led the oil company to “cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska."]]>

After sinking billions into offshore Arctic oil exploration, petroleum giant Shell Oil is closing up its exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea and will “cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future.”

The announcement was made on the Dutch oil giant’s website late Sunday night, bringing an end to Shell’s Arctic Alaska oil adventure after seven years and a $7 billion commitment.

The company drilled a 6,800-foot well into the ocean floor in its “Burger J” prospect, in about 150 feet of water in the Chukchi Sea roughly 150 miles west of Barrow. The company said in the Sunday release that they found “indications” of oil and gas, but they were “disappointing” and “not sufficient to warrant further exploration.”

A map of Shell’s summer 2015 Alaska operations. Image: Shell.

That well was “sealed and abandoned,” and—despite what the company calls “important exploration potential” in the area—the oil titan said the dry well signals an end to its roughly $3 billion dollar Alaska concern this year, which the company said also carried as much as $1.1 billion in future contracts.

Beyond the dry well, Shell said the decision to end its Arctic oil exploration is related to the high costs of the project and the “challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment” for offshore exploration in Alaska.

Monday was a key deadline for Shell’s Chukchi effort: it marked the end of the summer drilling season, although extensions of the company’s drilling permits into October were possible. The company now has to move its drill rigs, support vessels, and more—some of which are being staged near Kotzebue—out of the Arctic.

Despite its exit from the Arctic oil search, Shell still holds 275 outer continental shelf blocks in the Chukchi Sea. The company says the Chukchi basin is roughly “half the size of the Gulf of Mexico” and remains “substantially under-explored.”

As President Barack Obama plans to shift his focus to western Alaska by midweek, residents of Kotezbue—the northwest Arctic hub of fewer than 4,000 people—are making final preparations for the president’s historic visit above the Arctic Circle.

On Monday, all of Kotzebue was put the finishing touches on cleanup efforts and last-minute planning for the president’s visit. More than ten derelict houses had been knocked down as part of a community-wide cleanup that saw rusty cars, broken-down snowmachines, and more hauled away. But on Monday afternoon, Nelson Griest Junior was untangling his salmon net.

“From the last storm, it was pretty high … the water came up and washed my net out, and that’s where I’m at,” he said.

Nelson had a good summer netting chum salmon in Kotzebue’s small commercial fishery. He was working out of Kotzebue’s North Tent City, a city-built campground along a sliver of beach that offers fish racks and campsites for rent from May through September. It’s how Nelson says he’s spent his springs and summers since he can remember.

“It’s where I was born,” he said. “Lived down here over 15 years. My parents used to come here ever since the 70s. Every summer, they pretty much came down here. Springtime, they’d go out hunting ugurk and seal.”

This summer, his camp in the tent city fell into the water. It wasn’t the first time.

“It’s eroding,” he said. “It got my fish rack down here, dropped it down, fell one time. We put it back up. It’s really eroding down the coast, and every time the sand or rocks go down, there’s always ice in the bottom, on the tundra. So there is lots that’s melting, and I’m happy the president is coming. I’m excited.”

Nelson isn’t the only one talking about climate change in the lead up to Obama’s visit.

“It’s such an honor for him to come to our village, to see first-hand our concerns as a native community here,” said Nicole Stoops, the executive director of the Kotzebue IRA (the seats of tribal governments in many Alaska Native communities under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1936).

Stoops said the concerns go beyond impacts to seal hunting and salmon fishing. It’s anxiety about possible relocation for communities connected to the land through generations.

“It’s not such a simple thing to move a community as there are a lot of cultural ties to where they are now,” she said. “Just to understand the cultural ties the people have to the land, as well as finding something that would be logical and reasonable for the community members to feel comfortable on a move to relocate somewhere.”

Some of Kotzebue’s erosion issues, mainly along Shore Avenue, also known as Front Street, have been dealt with, at least for now. City manager Derek Martin said, after 50 years of half-measures, it was a tremendous effort to finally get it right.

“The permanent fix to this erosion problem along Shore Avenue [was] to install a series of sheet-pile bulkheads along 75 percent of [the road],” he said. “That provided the necessary infrastructure to prevent further erosion and to protect the roadway. But this was a fix that worked for this community as part of our erosion problem, as part of our climate change problem here in Kotzebue.”

It’s a solution Martin said he hopes to showcase during the president’s visit, one that demonstrates the resilience of rural communities.

It’s the kind of resilience Kotzebue Mayor Maija Lukin says is part of a life in rural Alaska. One she had to call on herself when her appendix burst this weekend.

What started off with nausea on Saturday turned into an emergency medevac to Anchorage and the quick removal of a dangerously inflamed appendix. Mayor Lukin was out of the hospital by Sunday, but she was only able to book a flight back home Monday night, just days before the president’s arrival.

It’s just one of the challenges about living in rural Alaska she puts up with to continue her family’s traditions.

“I know the time that he’s here is very short, and we’re showing him the best of everything we have. But it’s a very hard life that people don’t quite understand,” she said. “We choose to live in Kotzebue because it’s a beautiful place — it’s above the Arctic Circle. It’s a place where you can raise your children to hunt, fish, live off the land, and do what we were taught from our parents and grandparents.”

But while many prepare to press the president on climate change, others in Kotzebue just as quickly bring up the elephant in the room; or, in this case, the oil rig in the sea. Shell Oil is pursuing exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea this summer and staging ships, tugs, crews, and more in Kotzebue.

Some residents say they’re opposed to the drilling outright. Others say they’re more open to the idea. But on the eve of Obama’s visit focused on climate change, many in Kotzebue are quick to point out the incongruity: the president they are eager to welcome to their community, to talk candidly with about their needs when it comes to climate change, is the same president who authorized Shell’s Arctic drilling.

For Nelson, still tending his fishnets, it’s a straightforward decision.

“It’s not a good place to drill, I guess,” he said. “Because in fall time, when the ice is coming and the waves are getting bigger — I’m not sure about the cleanup. I think it’s going to be pretty hard in the Arctic.”

Oil and erosion, subsistence and climate change solutions; all topics on the minds of Kotzebue residents on the eve of the president’s visit to the Alaska Arctic.

]]>18177Nome’s Port Commission Debates Deep-Draft Dredginghttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/08/27/nomes-port-commission-debates-deep-draft-dredging/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/08/27/nomes-port-commission-debates-deep-draft-dredging/#commentsThu, 27 Aug 2015 17:17:15 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=18022Nome’s ability to attract investors and secure its role in offshore Arctic activities continues to be the main focus of the city’s Port Commission.]]>

Nome’s ability to attract investors and secure its role in offshore Arctic activities continues to be the main focus of the city’s Port Commission.

At this month’s meeting, the commission shared concern over its inability to attract big business and even bigger visitors to Nome this summer. Along with Shell running its summer drilling operations out of Kotzebue, the White House’s decision to skip over Nome and visit Kotzebue instead during the President’s upcoming visit to Alaska means even less business for the city.

The consensus among commissioners is that constructing a deep draft port is their best bet increase traffic and investment in Nome. At their meeting last week, they debated dredging to just 28 feet or committing to the 35-foot depth required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a deep-draft Arctic port.

Commissioner Rolland Trowbridge encouraged the group to commit to 35 feet. “If we’re going to do it, let’s build it down to -35 [feet] so we’ll always be in the game from that point on now on,” Trowbridge urged, adding, “No one will look back in 20 years and say, “Boy that was crazy,” but if we build it to 28 [feet] I guarantee they will.”

Other commissioners voiced their support for dredging to the deeper depth required by the Army Corps of Engineers. Commissioner Bryant Hammond emphasized that a deep draft port would help attract investors to Nome.

“If we do really want Shell and the other bigger players in,” Hammond said, “getting to negative 35 feet is going to be pivotal.”

Commissioner Charlie Lean suggested that, along with bringing big players to Nome, a deep-draft port would have widespread benefits.

“It’s not just Nome that would benefit from, say tankers or container ships,” Lean said, “the entire region, including Nana region and the lower Yukon would see freight rates reduced if large loads like that came less expensively to Nome and then were lightered out of Nome.”

At their meeting, the commission also reviewed ongoing projects such as the expansion of the middle dock, with the sheet pile installation nearly complete. They also renewed their contract with the city’s lobbyist Lawrence Markley. For a fee of $60,000, Markley represents Nome at the state and federal level on issues including Arctic development and port improvements.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/08/27/nomes-port-commission-debates-deep-draft-dredging/feed/118022New Environmental Review Could Move Offshore Chukchi Drilling Forwardhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/10/31/new-environmental-review-could-move-offshore-chukchi-drilling-forward/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/10/31/new-environmental-review-could-move-offshore-chukchi-drilling-forward/#commentsSat, 01 Nov 2014 00:40:00 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=12614Challenged in court since 2008, a new draft environmental assessment upholds the Chukchi leases and increases the estimate to more than four billion barrels of recoverable oil.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2014/10/2014-10-31-BOEM-Chukchi.mp3

A new draft environmental review of leases off Alaska’s northwest coast could bring oil companies one step closer to resuming offshore oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea.

Dozens of leases—purchased by Royal Dutch Shell and other oil companies back in 2008—have been challenged in court by Alaska Native organizations and environmental groups since before the sale took place.

In January, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld those leases. At the same time, the court ruled that the estimated impact on the environment was lacking.

“They said that its reliance on an estimate of 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil was, to use their words, arbitrary and capricious,” said John Callahan, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. After the court decision, the Chukchi leases were suspended and BOEM was told to perform a new, more realistic assessment.

This time, Callahan said the agency considered what would happen if multiple fields were developed on the lease sites. They also used new data to estimate significantly more oil could be found.

“This analysis considers a scenario in which 4.3 billion barrels of oil are produced; it assumes development of both an anchor field and a satellite field; and it covers 77 years of oil and gas activity,” the average life of an offshore oil well, Callahan said.

When the court first ordered this new environmental analysis, conservation groups cheered—but they were quick to condemn Friday’s findings by BOEM. In a statement, Michael LeVine, a lawyer for ocean advocacy group Oceana, said the news “makes today feel more like Groundhog Day than Halloween.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski praised the new study, but warned that regulators are “getting down to the wire” if they want to pave the way for oil companies to drill in the Arctic next year.

BOEM still has to take its review through a 45-day public comment period. They’re planning to travel to communities along the Chukchi coast, as well as hubs like Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Barrow.

Shell drilled its last well in the Arctic two years ago. Their 2012 season ended with a high-profile accident as the Kulluk rig ran aground near Kodiak Island. But that incident, and the subsequent investigation into Shell’s operations, isn’t the only reason why the company hasn’t gone back to the Arctic. Legal challenges and uncertainty over leasing has also played a part.

Shell and other leaseholders—including Statoil and ConocoPhillips—have been lobbying the Department of the Interior to extend their 10-year contracts in the Arctic. They’re similar to lease agreements for other offshore drilling zones, like the Gulf of Mexico, but the oil companies argue that Arctic drilling takes more time, because the exploration window is shorter in icy waters.

In an email Friday, Shell spokesperson Megan Baldino said the company is still waiting to hear back on its request for extended leases. At the same time, she said the company is also reviewing the draft analysis of the Chukchi lease sale.